Out Of Stock

Over the weekend I got an email from Marks and Spencer advertising their new range for big wide bastards (not quite the way they phrased it, but that’s what they meant) that was currently only available on-line. It’s a range that interests me – hey, I definitely qualify as a big wide bastard – so I had a look.

Surprisingly, there were a couple of things I liked the look of, so I ordered them through the site. All well and good.

Last night I got an email…

Dear Lyle,
Thanks for your recent online order.
  I am sorry to tell you that we have had to cancel [one of the items] from your order as they are currently out of stock. You have not been charged for these items and your new order total is £xx.xx. I understand that this information will bedisappointing and I’m sorry for any inconvenience that it will cause you.
  The remaining items on your order will be delivered within the next 4-7 working days.
  We update availability regularly, so you may wish to check the website again in the next 2-3 weeks however, if these items were part of a sale we will not receive any more stock. If you would like to order an alternative product please call us on [I can’t be arsed to give the number]
  Thanks for shopping with Marks & Spencer Online.
  Kind Regards,
Customer Services, Marks & Spencer, www.marksandspencer.com

My response wasn’t quite so polite…

Dear Customer Services,
  Thank you for your email.
  Personally, I would rather have been given the choice of whether I wanted the items removed from the order, or held for when the items came into stock. So many thanks for giving me that option.
  Actually, I’d *far* rather have had the website not even show the items that were out of stock – or even at least to *say* the items were out of stock, and would be delayed. I find it hard to believe that a company like M&S can’t organise that kind of integration between warehouse and website. However, it’s obvious that they can’t.
  I think it’s even worse for the company to hold the attitude of “you ordered it, wecan’t provide it, so hey, why don’t you come back in a month or so and see if we’ve managed to get our fingers out or not“. Surely if you have this order listed as “out-of-stock” in the system, it’s not *that* much of a leap to then mail customers when the stock becomes available again, so they can order/re-order.
  As it is though, congratulations, you’ve lost a customer for M&S online. I’ll go back to using Cotton Traders, who at least have the competence/systems to say “that’s out of stock, you can’t order it” on their website.
  Sincerely
  Lyle